The Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations

* In the end Thompson did fine. He did better than fine and he even
came close to the bar the press had reset - after the debate was
over. CBS claimed he hadn't "dominated" the debate, which no one
had suggested was necessary for a guy in second place in nearly
every poll; the Chicago Tribune wrote about the
who's-the-best-tax-cutter mini-debate between Mitt Romney and Rudy
Giuliani by pointing out it "took place with Thompson standing
awkwardly in between" the Governor and the Mayor.

* My own take is this: Thompson did way well enough. After his
nervousness at answering the first question out of the box, he
settled down and used facts when necessary, rhetoric when
necessary, home-spun common sense when necessary and humor when
appropriate.

* Romney and Giuliani are polished debaters in this, their sixth or
seventh appearance and now seem willing to go after each other:
Romney because he needs to show he's still in the top tier despite
being stuck in single or low-double digits in national polls;
Giuliani because he can use a fight with Romney to maintain his
lead over Thompson without directly engaging him.

* It didn't appear to me that Sen. John McCain was particularly on
his game; his campaign had announced he had given a speech at the
Detroit Economic Club at noon and it is likely he left his game in
the on-deck circle there.

* The big loser was Mike Huckabee. Huckabee is still in this thing
largely on the strength of his previously excellent debate
performances. But whether it was the fact that Thompson was on the
stage for the first time, or because Huckabee is running out of
gas, he was just another second-tier guy in at the Dearborn
debate.

* Final thought? Never underestimate the value of lowering
expectations.

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